Dialogue Returns as Hallmark of Society of Automotive Engineers Conference

Dialogue Returns as Hallmark of Society of Automotive Engineers Conference

By Michelle Krebs April 15, 2010

Returning to its roots as a conference for auto engineers to exchange ideas and present technical papers to interested colleagues (and competitors), the 2010 Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress in Detroit this week is noticeably downsized.

The SAE is actively moving the conference away from being dominated by both the flashy displays of deep-pocket suppliers and other exhibitors and by vendor sales booths hawking all manner of down-and-dirty components. 

This is not all by the SAE's choice: the lousy economy settled hard on the auto industry and its associated suppliers, the companies that once battled one another for prime (and expensive) exhibit space at the World Congress. With exhibit money drying up, suppliers thinning out and automotive engineers and their travel budgets dwindling, the World Congress is gradually being recast back to its foundations as a gathering of engineers exchanging ideas and engaging in healthy debate.

So this week, forums at the 2010 World Congress included panels discussing how to develop an accurate and usable methodology to measure fuel economy of electrified vehicles such as the upcoming General Motors Co. Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s all-electric Leaf.

Another panel took on what kind of product changes will be necessary to get automakers to 2016's mandated vehicle fleet fuel economy average of 34.1 miles per gallon. Many have pointed to hybrid-electric vehicles as the best route, but despite the popularity of one model, Toyota's Prius, and 21 other models on sale in the U.S., hybrids currently make up just 2.2 percent of the market.

And although the 2010 SAE World Congress and its vastly diminished exhibit area didn't offer anything approaching the sometimes freaky assortment of future innovations, far-out gadgets and soon-to-be-introduced innovations of Congresses past, there was a handful of interesting displays:

* Honda Motor Co. Ltd. displayed the edgy VFR1200FD sport motorcycle with what the  company said is the world's first dual-clutch automated manual transmission for a motorcycle.

The motorcycle, already on sale for several months, has no clutch lever and the dual-clutch transmission allows full automatic gear selection. Manual control comes from small upshift/downshift buttons near the left handgrip, easily manipulated now that the clutch lever no longer occupies the area. Motorcycle enthusiast magazines have raved about the bike.

  The VFR1200 lineup (the 1200F model comes with a conventional manual transmission) also incorporates Honda's first electronically controlled throttle. Honda engineers here seem nonplussed by the timing of introducing their first by-wire throttle just months before Toyota's electronic throttle technology has come under scrutiny by those attempting to find a mechanical or electronic explanation for unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles.

    Honda also showed a small generator and garden tiller with combustion engines fueled by butane supplied in small canisters about the size of a spray-paint can. Honda claims a 10-percent reduction in CO2 emissions compared with the same equipment using gasoline for fuel.

* Chrysler LLC showed the much-traveled Fiat 500 of its managing partner Fiat S.p.A. The 500 will be powered by a four-cylinder engine using Fiat's innovative Multiair variable valve timing and lift system and that will be built in a Chrysler engine plant in Dundee, Michigan.

* Engineering consultant FEV showed its "extremely downsized engine," a concept based on a Brabus-modified smart 0.7-liter three-cylinder engine that makes more power than most of today's 1.8-liter to 2-liter four-cylinder production engines.

The company says that by adding direct fuel injection and fully variable valve timing for both camshafts, the EDE's power has been boosted to about 135 horsepower per liter. Peak torque is 32 percent better at 1,500 rpm as well.

* Ford Motor Co. said at the show here it already is planning advances such as cooled exhaust-gas recirculation and more sophisticated turbocharger designs for its new EcoBoost suite of gasoline engine technologies. Company engineers and executives say some of the innovations are borrowed from diesel-engine development and bring gasoline and diesel engines even closer in terms of efficiency and shared technology. -- Bill Visnic, Senior Editor

Photos

1 - Honda VFR1200FD: The motorcycle industry's first dual-clutch automated manual transmission and Honda's first use of electronic throttle control (courtesy Honda Motor America).

2 - Honda's dual-clutch automated manual transmission allows clutchless shifting or full-automatic operation. No clutch lever, no foot-operated shifter (courtesy American Honda Motor Company, Inc.).

3 - Prefer this compact can of butane to handling gasoline for small-engine tools like tillers, generators and maybe even lawn mowers? Honda thinks it might be a good idea; butane also cuts CO2 emissions by 10 percent.

4 - FEV's extremely downsized engine is just 0.7 liter and three cylinders, but makes more power than a 1.8-liter four-cylinder.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.